England and France are neighbours and have a famous 1000 year old, love-hate 1)_____ . An early milestone was 1066, when William of Normandy conquered England. As any English football fan will 2)_____ you "It's their fault, they started it!" and ever since there has been Agincourt (1415) and of course the 3)_____ of Napoleon (conveniently forgetting that several other nations were actually involved). A more recent low occurred when Churchill ordered the sinking of the French Fleet after France surrendered to Germany. 4)_____ many claim the UK's role in the liberation of France rather made up for this!

English-French rivalry continues to the present time — in sport, language and culture. In any big sporting tournament (especially football or rugby) the French become "Frogs" – a nickname derived 5)_____ the (inexplicable to English taste) French inclusion of frogs, snails and other unmentionables in their cuisine.

In the last decades the French have even battled against the invasion of the English language — "Le weekend", "Le sandwich" and so forth. But it seems that the English language is a 6)_____ opponent. The rivalry recently flared up again most recently when London narrowly beat Paris in the bid to 7)_____ the 2012 Olympics. But in fairness, since William "kicked-off" in 1066 there have been plenty of French victories as well, and in reality the nations are the best of friends as much as "best" enemies and their rivalry is often quite witty and entertaining.